Teeth of the Divinehttp://www.teethofthedivine.com
Extreme Music Critique, Discourse & DiscoveryFri, 09 Dec 2016 11:46:37 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.6.1Fatalist – The Bitter Endhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/fatalist-the-bitter-end/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/fatalist-the-bitter-end/#commentsFri, 09 Dec 2016 11:46:37 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41125Before Horrendous, Unwilling Flesh, Spinebreaker, Terminate, Skinfather, With Burning Contempt and others threw a US made hat into the Swede death arena and made it cool, there was Invasion and Fatalist. Fatalist were formed from members of Uphill Battle and Exhumed and released an album/demo compilation back in 2009, The Depths of Inhumanity, that was one of the better, earlier US attempts at the Dismember/Entombed thing, and they nailed it (right down to the logo font and promo/press photos in front of giant crosses).

7 years later, Fatalist has returned, and although many other bands (most listed above) have also successfully rendered the Stockholm sound with excellent results, Fatalist certainly have not fallen by the wayside or lessened in their ability to render a perfect Nihilist/Entombed sound with aplomb, as The Bitter End is killer example of the style, American or otherwise.

With John Haddad (Deathevokation, Abysmal Dawn, Exhumed) recording, mastering an mixing, the sound is as you’d expect; a perfect rendition of that classic mid range buzz, though with a little more raw primality than the more polished, often overdone peers. Just listen to the opening bars of the title track or opening salvo of “Devoured” and let me know if there is any paint left in your house afterwards. I’ll wait.

The Bitter End by FatalistSong wise, it’s also as you’d expect with almost a pure early Entombed and early Dismember (think Indecent and Obscene/Pieces)worship. It’s big instantly recognizable gallops/trots (“Aberration”, “Symphony of Chaos”, “Fear of Death”, “Suicidal Aftermath”) and occasional somber licks (“A Hollowed Shell of the Body”, “Colored Red”) with a healthy dose of pure, snarling blasts (fucking savage “Bloodfest”, “Diluted Thoughts”, closer “Tortured Existence”). All with more than a few nods to their peers and enough self rendered tenacity to make it their own.

As with the debut, Neil Burkdoll still has a more mid range rasp like Orvar Säfström from Entombed’sCrawl EP, it’s not particularly commanding or authoritative, but it works and frankly the vocals on any album of this style play second fiddle to the guitar tone. I’m glad to see these guys not just back, but back with a real sense of menace and purpose and show a bit of a nastier side to the homage.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/fatalist-the-bitter-end/feed/1Profanal – Supreme Firehttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/profanal-supreme-fire/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/profanal-supreme-fire/#commentsThu, 08 Dec 2016 11:42:07 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41123Oh yeah, the force is strong in this one, the Dismember force that is. This one being Italy’s Profanal and their contribution to the altar that is swedish death. Obviously we know that the followers are many, some bring reverence and new found power to the church, where others as we know, just worship, nothing more. Profanal, fall somewhere in between. They have the passion and energy and the enthusiasm to put forth in this 30 min romp amongst the graveyard of those that have fallen and walk the path with many of those who continue dig up the graves of decrepit sounds.

Having equal measure Dismember with its speed, not quite the tone, but oh yes, that FEEL is there and the 1-2, 1-2 drumming, you know you just love this, just listen to opener “Eternal Curse of Blood”, ah yes, Like An EverFlowing Stream indeed. But also listen further and you have bits of the death groove of Grave here also.The mid-paced thump of “Close The Coffin”, illustrates this perfectly, wait till the half way through the song, that (Grave) groove takes shape that will get your head banging, just wonderful. I love the vocals, an angry roar with power and gruffness that you feel in your gut. Vocalist Rosey, formerly of “Putrefied Beauty”, just does an excellent job fronting the band, you know and feel where her voice comes from but she add her touch to make this a better listen. Another great representation, of both sounds, the final two numbers, “Burn The Altar”, with its speed, the riffing, the groove, you hear the bass rumbling along, shaking you to the core and “Considered As Gods” (uuuhm, one can wonder of whom they speak of?) a great closer to this offering to the altar of the swedeath gods

Supreme Fire by ProfanalIt’s great that the album is quick and to the point, you don’t get bored, you won’t have too much time to dwell on the meaning of things, to say “oh it too derivative” or “Its too simple” No, just sit back and turn it up, it’s fun and gets the point across and blasts you into submission in no time and you can go about your business, with a smile on your face.

The negative, if you want to call it that, is from the last album to this one , it seems more of the Swedish worship is in place with this release, whereas with the debut, Black Chaos, that album, the tone was angrier, more harsh and a bit more unique and not so much idol worship.(Although the guitar tone was a bit more Dismember-ish)

So a great release, interesting cover art with its different color scheme and without breaking any boundaries or looking to change the world, Profanal, add another good, solid stone to the altar of the death gods.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/profanal-supreme-fire/feed/1Death Requisite – Revisitationhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/death-requisite-revisitation/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/death-requisite-revisitation/#commentsWed, 07 Dec 2016 11:41:43 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41102Prior to this month, I had no idea who Rottweiler Records or Florida’s Death Requisite were. But In comes the ‘here’s some shit for you to review’ email, I see the ‘symphonic death metal’ keyword and I check it out, as I a sucker for symphonics in any kind of metal.

So what we have here then is a band who have been around since 2000, released an album in 2001, but have been fairly sporadic since and just released their sophomore album via Rottweiler Records. Then, I come to find out the band and label are Christian, but hey ho, no worries as I’d already given the album a few spins and rather enjoyed it.

What we have musically, is a weird enjoyable mix of melodic, but beefy death metal with lots and lots of Gothic, Dimmu Borgir-y keyboards and choirs. To these ears it came across as Vehemence meets Crematory (or other 90s Nuclear Blast goth/death metal)or Dead Blue Sky (which makes sense as both acts released albums in 2001 and have heavy keyboards). And I’m about to drop the King Kong of obscure band name drops here on you, those familiar with the local Dallas metal scene, the act Dei Aemeth also spring to mind.

I can’t compare to the 2001 album or anything since, (though it appears the prior vocalists were more black metal sounding) but I found the whole thing very enjoyable. The guitars have a big nice crunch to them, and the vocals of Vincent St James are powerful and deep but understandable, really imbuing Nathan Gearhart from Vehemence, as well as the overall mix of melodic death metal and more brutal moments. Other than a few acoustic bits here and there, it’s free more typical, obvious Christian tropes or clean vocals, and if I had not researched the band or label, I would have been none the wiser simply enjoying the likes of “Veneration”, “Redemptio Per Deicide” surprisingly brutal penultimate track “Castigation”.

The CD ends with a 17 minute purely symphonic number, “Recapitulation”, and while it initially comes across of filler, accounting for a large chunk of the album, it is actually a very nicely done piece of epic, cinematic music, and comes across like Fleshgod’s Apocalypse‘s orchestra only CD version of King from earlier this year. In all, a surprisingly little release and better than the other one the label sent me, Becoming Saints, which is little more than Demon Hunter with ex Soul Embraced bassist Jeff Bowie. Still- a label I’ll be checking in on on in the future.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/death-requisite-revisitation/feed/1Black Wasteland – Incantations of Decayhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/black-wasteland-incantations-of-decay/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/black-wasteland-incantations-of-decay/#respondTue, 06 Dec 2016 11:37:53 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41041German doom overlords Black Wasteland blew me away with a pair audio gallows’ hangings; the Where Light Can Not Intrude LP and the Dehydration EP. Capable of twin axin’ their way through forests of Lizzy, Valkyrie and Priest, filthing a path to the toughest biker bar dirt doom show (think St. Vitus, Turambar, Earthride and Deer Creek sharing a bill) and going straight into the classic primordial ooze from whence it all came (Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Witchfinder General), this quartet can plow just about any grid of the doom field and yield highly edible rot crops. Hell, sometimes the gangrene sleaze overtones of Celtic Frost, Church of Misery, Venom and Soulpreacher even enter the fray, so there’s diversity to this band’s doom aplenty. The band’s 4th official release Incantations of Decay finds them taking their sound as far as it can go in every direction from highly melodic, twin pussy lickin’ guitar harmonies to Norse Hammer doom, sludge and blackened thrash with a singular mission of pounding you into the ground like a crop stake marker; it’s all in there and then some.

“The Banisher” opens with a growling, demonic vocal proposition which sends master riff blacksmiths Andi and Arne into an immortal lifestorm of tempest withered riffs, high energy n’ high wire harmonies and 80s Pentagram grooves with stronger production. Drummer Fabi 10 arms his way like a giant squid across the drum kit with 4/4 rock beats, jarring fills and lots of splashy cymbal work happening to keep things constantly engaging. Gurgus’ bass is always slung low and full of greasy lard while his strong set of pipes veer between demonic incantations, melodies nailed to a bleeding overcast sky and sharper, scratched larynx shouts. Solos are ripped at fuckin’ will and Andi n’ Arne trade licks like they’re going out of style whenever they’re not diggin’ into a doubled-up dirt dealing doom riff like the track’s lead-off, cornfed Sabbath/Pentagram goodie.

Sludgy as a sewer, a shit stink doom riff drone and constantly cycling poly-beats breed a groove like a mutated rat monstrosity that’s an instant standout entitled “Pale Eyes (Of Goodbye).” The vocals waver amidst a sea of hardcore/metal bile barks and melodic strains ala Count Raven circa High on Infinity. These grooves will tear a leg off like a bear that thinks your camp cuisine is shit while he shakes you to pieces in a slow, mesmerizing side to side swing. 3:35 summons a stalking Jack the Ripper doom riff all goosed up on Slayer at first then Frost, Venom and Vitus as it falls prey to a hopeless throat slash with sickened vocal spawn shooting beams of light dead on sight with revolver. Trust me…if you want to hear just one track to sell yourself on the power of Black Wasteland…this is it. Neanderthal doom riffing thaws out, screams and clubs itself a woman in the hell burning intro wrath of “Hexenhammer.” Gurgus’ voice takes to cleaner vocal valleys on the sparser psychedelic passages with a Zeeb Parkes’ inflection (but slightly deeper) but he mixes in biting shouts whenever the guitars turn to slime. His switches are tasteful and the song runs the gamut from hoof to ground classic metal trots, sluggard thrash, demonic doom, powerhouse harmony guitars, solos and soulful blues. There’s a lot of curveballs and tempo swerves for a vintage sounding doom band and not only do the vocals/guitars keep things classy but the rhythm section never lags once.

Incantations Of Decay by Black Wasteland“Downfall of Alexandria’s” fuzzy starter riff is more deceptive than Houdini because the track immediately fills its stoner rock veins thereafter with mid-tempo blackened thrash poison where cryptic, noise-bleached guitar melodies and claw shredded vocal puke (that still find places for melodic variety) are crowned as kings. Fabi’s drumming crests the cymbals with majesty while using hard, economical fills and brutish hits from way, way back whenever 3:35 brings irate sludge/doom riffs and nasty vocals straight from Satan’s asshole. Diamond sharp, finely polished guitars offer glimmering melodic hope briefly whenever “Cold Waves of Desolation” settles in. Tranquility is soon busted like a kid snorting coke off the hood of a cop car in front of a police station as palm-muted sloth thrash chugs duel with icy lead guitars and begotten doom riffs. Even though the pacing is deliberate the drumming remains complex with climactic fills, rolls and anti-matter tempo reversals never allowing the beat to stagnate. Gurgus’ vocal onslaught is pure Cronos/Tom G. Warrior on this one and his low-end suffocates like the ol’ pillow over the head trick.

Vibes are swapped again on the stonerized fuzz buster riffs and slick Lizzy/Valkyrie harmonies that swim through the watery grave doom of “Falling Kingdom.” The serenity bathed twin guitars and the powerful vocal lamentations are then cut with a butcher’s precision utilizing freshly sharpened verbal blades, propulsive tribal percussion and unbaptized sludge riffs so heavy they could suplex an elephant over the moon to get the tune’s point across. “Brave New Blindness” makes a return pilgrimage to the more blatantly 70s hard rock tinges of the album opener with a gorgeous, moon bewitched bi-headed riff all loaded on the grandeur of the groove. Midway into the song that riff carries a bigger stick n’ dick than Jesus himself as some ripping screams set in before the song turns to sheer turbulence as it wrestles with melody and hatred whilst never losing the sweaty handed, heavy rock that made it a beast in the first place. Repeating, spell-crafted psyche doom riffs open up “Vultures Arising,” at first to an arid breathing psyche-Sab jam with entrancing grace but soon it turns into the kind of clogged artery thrash/black metal/crust/blues-doom peddled so well by Teeth of the Hydra. Closer “Away from Today” is another masterpiece on an album full of ‘em with suave lead melodies applying healing salve to riffs that bear 1,000 lbs. worth of sludged out Sabbath abandon as the lyrics exclaim sheer regret of life itself. And god fuckin’ damn it those riffs are punishing; especially when the leads go oozing overtop while the drums clear the way like a streetsweeper with faulty brushes substituted for helicopter blades. The only respite and ironic light at the end of the tunnel comes with a literal seconds long acoustic outro.

Every Black Wasteland release is worth your time but Incantations of Decay is their Grand Doombah thus far and well-worth a purchase for fans who like doom/sludge bands that can work both the harsh and melodic sides of the genre with equal force. Once you’ve thoroughly explored this record, work in reverse and pick-up Dehydration ‘cause you won’t be sorry; fuckin’ killer doom here from some guys who really, really mean it.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/black-wasteland-incantations-of-decay/feed/0Metallica – Hardwired… To Self-Destruct (Deluxe Edition)http://www.teethofthedivine.com/featured/metallica-hardwired-to-self-destruct-deluxe-edition/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/featured/metallica-hardwired-to-self-destruct-deluxe-edition/#commentsMon, 05 Dec 2016 11:20:52 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41237Talk about one of the most anticipated metal releases for 2016. The hype for Hardwired… To Self-Destruct has been through the roof. I preordered this special 3cd edition some time ago and it never reached me. My post office could not find it and it was never delivered, yet I paid for it. Score: Rini 1 and Metallica 0. My bank ruled in favor of me and credited back my account. I found this edition less expensive on Amazon and went ahead and scored it from them. As far as I’m concerned Metallica’s first 4 albums are untouchable thrash metal classics, defining the genre. They’re perfect. The Black album, I hated when it came out. I saw them live on the Blackened tour and they were phenomenal. It’s only years later I’ve come to appreciate the Black album.

The Load and Reload albums were stinkers. Going for a larger groove oriented sound, abandoning anything resembling thrash. It’s not until St. Anger when Metallica would go back to their thrash roots. The problem was the band was in strife, dealing with Hetfield’s alcohol addiction, the Some Kind of Monster movie, Bob Rocks’ continuing misguided influence Metallica were not musically focused. I still enjoy St. Anger. I agree the songs needs to be chopped in half, way too long for their own good. Furthermore there were NO guitar solos. Terrible. But the abysmal production of St. Anger was uncalled for, from a multi-million platinum selling band. From the horrific drum sound to no bass guitar to James’ cracking voice this album gains notoriety as the worst sounding metal album, right alongside Sodom’s god awful production of Obsessed by Cruelty. But St. Anger was thrashing and catchy so I overlook some parts of this.

2008’s Death Magnetic was and is outstanding. Better production, although some clipping was evident and a return to their vintage sound has this and their Beyond Magnetic ep as some of the bands strongest material. Lulu, well, hmmm experimental is the word. Collaborating with Lou Reed the album is a debacle. Polarizing their entire fan base. I’ve met no one that likes the album. These are their full length albums of original material. In order from best to worst and I’ll get to where Hardwired… To Self-Destruct fits in at the end of the review, once I finally get to the review: Master of Puppets, Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightening, ...and Justice for All, Death Magnetic, the Black album, St. Anger, Load, Reload, Lulu.

One of the smart moves was to release Hardwired… To Self-Destruct across 2 discs. The playing time is 76 minutes total, which is a long metal album. This preserves the production value of the material, very smart move, Metallica. Songs range from the 3 minute mark to their trademark long songs. Metallica has been writing long songs since their classic 1983 debut Kill ‘Em All, so I’m used to it, but on certain albums the longer songs work, but on albums like St. Anger and this new one, not so much. Album opener “Hardwired” slays. Metallica could not have picked a better opening song. This needs to be their live opener on this tour. They waste little time, and get right to the thrash metal. Hetfield sounds outstanding. Harnessing his vintage 80’s metal voice he sounds angry and pissed on this track. I love it.

Hammet’s got some solos, Lars throws in the double bass and thank god for Rob Trujillo. Yes Metallica hazed him on Death Magnetic by burying his bass guitar in the mix. On Hardwired… To Self-Destruct they grew up and the bass guitar is audible on the entire album. He’s always been a great bass player with his bass plucking with Suicidal Tendencies and Infectious Grooves. This adds a much enhanced rhythm section, which has been sorely devoid for years. Rob’s bass playing on this record destroys! “Atlas, Rise!” is good. More mid-paced. The song is repetitive, yet I really enjoy this track. “Moth into Flame” is another highlight on disc1. It has groove and killer riffing. Excellent solos and nice fast, thrash passages, which again harken back to their classic thrash metal classics from 30 years earlier. Hetfield mixed up his vocal tones and adds an extra layer of greatness to the track. I like the drumming from Lars on this track as well. Well done. “Halo on Fire” is worth mentioning as it sounds like a leftover off the Black album, alongside some eerily similar moments to “Fade to Black”. Long, moody, James laying down some melodic vocals with some simplistic musical arrangements. At over 8 minutes the song is the longest on the entire album. Some of the guitar melodies are nice with Kirk laying nice solos towards the end of the song, the tune picking up pace and Lars throwing in some double bass. The entire song has future classic written all over it. Truly a monster song.

Disc 2 opens with “Confusion”. Decent track featuring some excellent guitar riffing at the 2.40 mark. This song grooves throughout its 6+ minute length and more excellent soloing from Kirk. “Here Comes Revenge” is groovy, heavy, excellent solos and nice signature time changes. “Spit Out the Bone”, closes the album and is a terrific thrash metal closer. Right up there with their earlier classics. I love this song. I just wish there were more of these moments. The way Hetfield spits out his vox on this track and guitar riffing, I wanted more, but the album gets slogged down with a little too much groove for its own good. The album needed some more true fast songs thrown in the mix, but too many songs groove and groove, slow, melodic and take a while to hit the Metallica riff.

This is more evident on Disc 2, which is not as strong as Disc 1. Disc 2 focuses more on the heavy groove style and simpler song writing which was on the Black album. With that being said, I still like Hardwired… To Self-Destruct alot. Not as strong as Death Magnetic, but if I were to place this in their discography, I would put this right after Death Magentic and before the Black album, because this is a really strong Metallica album with enough metal and thrash moments to keep you happy. The production is excellent. All the instruments breathe well and James’ vocals cutting through all the metal up your ass moments. I’ve been cranking this non-stop recently. Metallica even shot a video for every song, pretty wild and the videos are all excellent.

This deluxe edition has a bonus 3rd disc of b sides, covers and a live set. This is the edition you want. Hell, one of the live tracks is “Metal Militia”, one of their greatest Metallica songs ever. At 80 minutes disc 3 is dynamite. The original song “Lords of Summer”, on disc 3 is outstanding. I love the chorus and some of the brooding melodic metal riffs, the faster thrash parts. Excellent song, this should have been on disc 2, replacing one of the meh tunes, on that disc. The booklet layout is exceptional, no complaints there. Lyrics displayed beautifully and creatively and various pictures of the band members, altered, like on the album cover, all spread out across a massive digipak. The combination of all 3 discs adds up to 3 hours-worth of music. Well worth the extra skrilla on your part.

While not as good as Anthrax or Megadeth’s 2016 offerings, Hardwired… To Self-Destruct is a strong output from Metallica and one of my favorite albums for 2016. I hope they don’t wait another 8 years to release a new album. They will be into their 60’s and doubtful any fast thrash tunes would be on an album 8 years from now. If you love Metallica, get this, despite some of my gripes it’s a pretty ripping and fun album.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/featured/metallica-hardwired-to-self-destruct-deluxe-edition/feed/3Lectern – Precept of Delatorhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/lectern-precept-of-delator/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/lectern-precept-of-delator/#respondFri, 02 Dec 2016 11:51:17 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41080Italy’s Lectern are a sort of a unique bunch, but not for the reasons you may be expecting but we will get to that a bit later in our review. Musically they are a fairly standard death metal band, they have all the bases covered, giving you a good cross section of early Decide, touches of Jungle Rot death groove and some of the more mood driven plodding, intensity of Incantation via the Diabolical Conquest / Daniel Corchado era. Plenty of standardized death metal riffing that will set heads a banging with furious intensity. Deep roaring vocals in the Glen Benton vein but with better clarity.

As for musicianship and the songs themselves, all are all, for the most part, paint by numbers death metal. Granted there are some moments that do grab you, but it is just that, it’s just for a moment. And even at 9 songs it can be a tad monotonous at times, you may find your attention wandering. Again not a bad release by any means, grab a earful of opening song, “Palpation of Sacramentarium” and next, “Fluent Bilocation”, both with great structure and intensity so this does give one to wonder why the album as a whole could not be like this. I found myself, the more I listened to this tho, I began to get into it and appreciate the little moments, like the lead melody interplay on “Pellucid” and some of the more thrashy moments on the mid section of “Diptych of Perked Oblation”.

Speaking for myself, the cover artwork alone is just about worth the price of the Cd. Great representation of the band in visual and their lyrical stance. With all the demons, monsters and grotesque images, well, suffice it to say you will not be wondering what you are getting into.

Now onto the unique aspect mentioned of the band. It is the often the quirky,misinterpreted (maybe??) translation of the bands songs. I realize sometimes translation can be a issue and conveying thoughts in your native language is another and problems can arise. But what’s funny is that all song titles seem to not make sense. I stress, I’m not making fun of the band by any means, and it could be I’m missing something I’m sure those that picked up Carcass – Symphonies of Sickness, back in the day were asking themselves what’s going on here?! with their own song titles.

So, those that may be looking for their continual metal endorphin fix, Lectern may fill that need, they have those great moments of death metal goodness with catchy riffing and musicianship but those looking for innovative, genre defining moments may need to look elsewhere. Take a chance, not a bad listen.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/lectern-precept-of-delator/feed/0Hammerhands – Largo Fortehttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/hammerhands-largo-forte/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/hammerhands-largo-forte/#commentsThu, 01 Dec 2016 11:46:21 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41077Hammerhands takes the atmosphere and vocal stylings of later Tom Waits records but replaces the music with widescreen desert rock and colliding waves of sandstorm sludge/hardcore. Largo Forte is an engrossing album and delivers with frequent surprises in song composition. Truly, I didn’t see what was coming at many points on Largo Forte and that’s a joy for those of us music junkies that have over-exposed ourselves from years of dredging for a next obsession. While the cover art features a scene of southwest American geology, and the songs hint to much the same inspiration, this group is out of Canada with Largo Forte being their first full length album after releasing two previous ep’s since 2013.

Largo Forte is a great example of how production can elevate the music to 4th dimensional levels. Everything is dialed in for a cohesive style and vision. The band seriously has to be pleased with the sonics of their new baby. The guitars are granular and arid enough to cause the listener’s nose to bleed. Else where they can crank from tremolo/spring reverb coated slithering’s to heaving sludge-core, and the sandstorm waves of crunch are in full definition. Aside from the already mentioned references I can’t help but hear Coelesce’s 1999 argument for why “metalcore” doesn’t have to be a dirty term, 0:12 Revolution in Just Listening. There’s a certain rhythmic chug and similar harmonic guitar tones that the two albums share. I didn’t get far into the opening track “Eighteen” before I was compelled to make the comparison. They are not the same beast, However. Hammerhands take the sound of that album and spread it out across the harsh expanse of northern Arizona.

Largo Forte by HAMMERHANDSTitle track “Largo Forte” drops a dose of local psychedelic plant life and takes a walk through a slot canyon where native rock art comes alive and Tom Waits ghost follows from above, strumming menacingly as the passage winds tighter. Creeping interlude “Mezzo Grave” transitions in as the yellow-red sun beyond view contorts the shadows and dehydration hazes reality. “If you’re not part of the party, you’re part of the problem” brings back the aggressive desert core. A sore reminder of the situation you just awoke to on that slot canyon floor come sun up. Indeed, it’s no party. “Where we go” is a pensive, sinister ballad. Springy, metallic reverb haunts our disembodied protagonist, soundtracking a montage of desperate wandering; he is weak but soldiering on. “Darkerness” brings that desert chill many forget comes at night in that environment. It’s straight ahead sludgy hardcore. Distant, long yells and exactly the riffs you imagine give it a feel not unlike darlings of the style, Thou. However, at about 6:15 our poor bastard reaches his human limits, convulsing into a puddle-like state as ancestral spirits rally to revive him from near death. “The Hardest Thing” concludes the album in full southwest regalia. Hot tin guitars and mezcal shredded vocal exasperations spell out the end of this tale.

Largo Forte was a nice surprise of an album. I can’t say I’ve been listening to a diverse array of metal or genre-bending bands lately but Hammerhands snapped me out of it a bit. Their choices in cross pollination prove to me the members have a high level of taste. I’ve always been a fan for the sort of detached, 90s indie/death rock clean vocals that are featured throughout the album. Think Swervedriver, or the weathered americana of Michael Gira from his Angels Of Light material. By song three of my initial listen I shot 3 different friends a link to the album, none of which have precisely the same taste but I thought would really dig the twist that Hammerhands is peddling. Largo Forte has closely curated production detail and earns high style points for experimenting with these particular genre blends in metal without it being jarring or a fatiguing listen. Put on an obscure spaghetti western flick while listening, for added effect.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/hammerhands-largo-forte/feed/1Stench Price – Stench Price EPhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/stench-price-stench-price-ep/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/stench-price-stench-price-ep/#respondWed, 30 Nov 2016 11:39:29 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41075Due to an unfortunate and excruciating ear infection that has had me uniaural for about three months I failed to write this review in a timely fashion, for which I must apologize to the band and the band’s guests. This EP deserved a timelier addressing.

Because, frankly, it smokes.

It does not smoke because it crams jazz interludes into the heavy grind it otherwise masterfully assembles. In fact, these distractions only serve to remind me of when adding a clean bit non-sequiturilly into a song was actually a new and exciting idea. Mr. Bungle and other Patton projects essentially opened and closed the book on out-of-hand interludes years ago. So hearing a modern grind project falling into this behavior is less exhilarating or amusing than distracting.

But smoke it does. And smoke it does because the actual grind parts of this grind album are madness inducing delights. This is pinball grind at its very ferociousest – when it is grinding. And it is grinding often enough to make this worth the distractions.

The band part of the band, consisting of Peter Shallmin (Kamlath) on bass, Max Konstantinov (Kamlath) on guitars and Romain Goulon (Necrophagist) on drums are in utter control of the chaos they weave. The songs are mid-length and the riffing and disassembling are both thrilling and fascinating to hear. The pedigree gives the brutal compositions a certain amount of tech/prog panache that helps raise the music above just chug and slam.

Which leads us to the other stellar aspect of this EP: the guest vocalists. Beginning with “Living Fumes”, featuring Brutal Truth’s Dan Lilker, who maintains a very true-to-roots vocal style to get the festivities off the ground, the band utilizes differing styles of throat-rakers to good – sometimes amazing – effect. Rogga Johnson (Paganizer) and Dave Ingram (Hail of Bullets) bring a traditional death/grind vocalizing style to their respective songs, with Ingram creating an almost Napalm Death tribute on “The Genocide Machine”.

Without question, the standout cut has to be “Pressure” featuring the nearly impossible vocals of Karina Utomo (High Tension). This track sees the band’s attempt to add jazzy, loungy music succeed in spectacular fashion, as the motif of the sound is actually built into the song instead of interrupting it. It creates a dance of happy violence that is truly disturbing and compelling.

The EP ends with “The Vitality Slip”, a massive interstate pileup of hardcore and grind driven by Shawn Knight’s (Child Bite) shouted rather than screamed or roared vocalizing. An extended jazz interlude notwithstanding, the cut is percussive and dangerous, sealing the record in a satisfying manner.

I recommend this EP to anyone who appreciates the brutality and artistry of techy, deathy grind, and while the distracting parts are just that, they move so quickly they can be easily forgiven. Or maybe you like that sort of thing, in which case, hey, this is the EP for you. Either way, this is a killer EP, and well worth grabbing.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/stench-price-stench-price-ep/feed/0Warcrab – Scars of Aeonshttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/warcrab-scars-of-aeons/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/warcrab-scars-of-aeons/#commentsTue, 29 Nov 2016 11:34:42 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41037Holy fuck, this is some good, goddamn heavy ass shit. Warcrab is an English sextet that plays self-proclaimed death/sludge metal and they ain’t fuckin’ joking with that labelling. Rampaging grooves, a nice mesh of guttural growls and sickly screams, dirty speed-ups, mid-tempo double-bass blasts and three guitarists with two digging into the riffs while Geoff Holmes plays lead on top, yields Warcrab a very individualistic sound on their second full-length Scars of Aeons. If you slowed down and fed Bolt Thrower a diet of sludgy Crowbar fat then embalmed them in Autopsy’s tomb with Incantation, Paganus, Celtic Frost and Winter as the morticians and finally gave Iron Monkey permission to read the last rites you’d be on the right track to understanding what these disease spreading famine masters sound like.

“Conquest” is teeming and bustling with eerie noise until Rich Parker slams into a booming thundercloud beat that’s perfectly syncopated against the melodic lead guitar work. The dual riffs of Paul Garbett and Leigh Jones lay a foundation so heavy it’d crack a bulldozer in half. Martyn Grant’s vocal range straddles a hooker’s pussy directly between sharp screamgasms and vomiting growls intent on going down. Surges of mid-paced, thicker than titanium death metal blasts take down DM bands that are 10x faster than Warcrab’s top speeds because the sheer impact and immovable heft of these segments can’t be touched. Extensive soloing and a dirty, crusty Napalm Death vibe slowed down on a cocktail of Vicodin and Oxycontin also crawls across the band’s sound like maggots and mealworms on a mission. Applying a blistering Sabbath groove to scuzzy, dirty Winter inflections renders “Destroyer of Worlds” an up-tempo beating that melts into an icy negative riff midway through that’s forked tongue licked n’ sealed by Frost, Grief and Winter. Despite a few obvious influences these guys have a highly original sound that isn’t afraid to put a complex, melodic solo on a dingy pile of pills doom riff surrounded on all sides by rhythms that could suffocate a world class body builder.

A forlorn, forgotten melancholic riff intros “In the Shadow of Grief” with each guitarist entering the fray one by one to create this noose-ready doom n’ death jam. Just as you slip your neck into the rope of suicide doom, the song frantically, effortlessly moves into a pulverizing death metal blast chasing away demons with the desire to mosh your problems out. A searing 70s lead in a death metal packaging reminds me heavily of a much more disgusting version of Convulse later on (circa Reflections) with Sabbath-fried riffing completely fitting the atmosphere.

The awesomely titled “Bury me Before I’m Born” places a larger emphasis on the flesh eating diseased screams as full-throttle, wildly soloed death metal crescendos break your body apart like a ship caught in the shallows as the sludgy shark toothed grooves devour what’s left of you piece by piece as you see it all happen before your eyes close for good. The title track is the album’s longest, moodiest piece; scraping and rolling resin ball riffs that melds the drug-addled heartbreak of Crowbar with Autopsy’s merciless toilet overflow ooze. Again healthy, breast bitin’ doom riffs punch through the thrash-y chugs and eagle scream solos while the percussion goes completely kooky and fill crazy until the song claws its way to catharsis via spine bending sludgy powerchords and another harmony-drenched solo that’s almost neoclassical in its grace and grandeur.

Warcrab’s flawless mixture of death metal, doom, sludge and slow grinding thrash easily place them among my top 10 favorite death metal bands of the last decade. Make no mistake because vintage, groove-oriented DM is the main ingredient here but the fact of the matter is that these guys are so tight with stylistic change-ups and textured, layered slaughter intricacies it’s damn tough to really compare them directly to anyone else out there and that’s why this album fuckim’ rules the radioactive roost!

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/warcrab-scars-of-aeons/feed/7Echelon – The Brimstone Aggrandizementhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/echelon-the-brimstone-aggrandizement/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/echelon-the-brimstone-aggrandizement/#commentsMon, 28 Nov 2016 11:33:40 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41009When I received this promo, I questioned the need for another Dave Ingram (Benediction, Bolt Thrower, Hail of Bullets), Rogga Johansson (Paganizer, Revolting, Ribspreader, Johansson & Speckmann et al) collaboration, despite my enjoyment of both guys’ previous and current projects, even more so considering they both recently collaborated on two Down Among the Dead Men albums over the last 3 years. And then you throw in that project also features Johan Berlund (Ribspreader, The Grotesquery) and Kjetil Lynghaug (Paganizer, Johansson & Speckmann), I was expecting another typical Johansson sounding , fun but predictable, recycled death metal project. And that’s what I got.

And while Echelon kinda does sound like what you’d expect if you have heard Down Among the Dead Men or any of Rogga’s other projects, it’s less obvious and has a much more Benediction based take on death metal. And not just because of Ingram’s distinct voice. including plenty of ‘ugohhhhs’, ‘heyyys’ and ‘rayyyys’. The material here is far less d-beat and crusty than DATDM or ‘playful’/catchy as the Revolting/Ribspreader stuff. It has a nice crisp crunch, again, reminiscent of Benediction’s tone, no HM boss buzz, just big, crunchy riffs, a hint of melodic death metal by way of some surprisingly harmonic solos, and just a no nonsense, enjoyable 8 song, 34 minute romp.

The Brimstone Aggrandizement (Death Metal Supergroup) by Echelon (International)The Brimstone Aggrandizement isn’t going to change death metal, but it certainly seems to sound like a Benediction comeback, just under a different moniker. From opener “Plague of the Altruistic”, through standout “Of Warlocks and Wolves”, both featuring nice little melodic licks, and “Lex Talionis” to the catchy combination closer”Monsters in the Gene Pool/ Sonic Vortex”, the album is a simple affair, and other than a few odd samples, does the job pretty well, and sounds you’d think a Dave Ingram/Rogga Johansson pairing would sound like, just with more Ingram and less Rogga sound.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/echelon-the-brimstone-aggrandizement/feed/1Saint Vitus – Live Vol. 2http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/saint-vitus-live-vol-2/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/saint-vitus-live-vol-2/#commentsFri, 25 Nov 2016 11:07:17 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41035Intelligence without pretentiousness, focus, and sledgehammer sincerity. Those three qualities defined Saint Vitus when they first adopted the name in 1980 and still does through three different singers, over ten releases, and a thirty years plus long journey along the margins of mainstream music. Their influence, however, is far from marginal and extensively documented. Their seminal studio albums continue to inspire young musicians around the globe long after their initial appearance, but they built much of their ongoing legacy with decades of live performances where Dave Chandler’s songwriting, among others, morphs into something even sharper, more intense, and hard-hitting than the studio recordings hinted at. The band’s first live album, Live, has remarkably remained the sole official live document from Vitus since 1900, but no longer with the release of Live Vol. 2.

The eleven tracks are culled from the band’s 2013 European tour – barring a recent guest appearance with the band during their 2016 American schedule, Scott “Wino” Weinrich’s last with the band to date. One song makes it clear that, whatever the band’s problems, they aren’t musical. The set list, as it often is with iconic bands, is strongly tilted in favor of the band’s first three studio releases and “War is Our Destiny” from 1985’s album Hallow’s Victim. The intervening years, however, haven’t dimmed the band’s instrumental fire in the slightest as this opener boils down an already lean original version into an undiluted adrenaline rush. Anger defines Scott Reagers’ studio vocal, but age and too much smoking helps Wino’s vocal sound closer to some lunatic would-be prophet preaching against mankind and predicting the end. “Look Behind You” begins with Chandler’s fire breathing guitar snarling and lashing out from the speakers and Vitus keeps their foot on the listener’s neck until the song’s over. It’s another example, as well, of how the band’s condensing the original version into much more compact live performances. Some of this comes from the band’s drummer Henry Vasquez. His energetic attack clearly stirs Chandler’s lead breaks into incendiary flairs of rage over Vasquez’s insistent beat.

Saint Vitus includes three tracks from their most recent studio album Lillie: F-65. The first of those performances, “Let Them Fall”, has the band’s patented plod, but it isn’t working to full effect. The power and atmospherics are here, but the elongated melodies coalescing in the older classics never come together here in a satisfying way. It is true, however, that the performance shows the same commitment that they bring to the older material. Later efforts in this vein fare much better – for instance, the next song, “The Bleeding Ground”. There’s a much stronger groove holding this song together and a melody clear enough to quickly hook listeners. Chandler hits on a bluesy growl for the song’s main riff that nicely matches the groove. Their attention turns back to older material with “Patra (Petra)” from 1990’s album V. It is a descent into sonic hell here, inflamed by pain and rage in equal measure, and the undiluted focus Vitus brings to the song makes it a powerful listening experience.

“The Troll” is much shorter than its studio counterpart and, once again, the abbreviated running time is due to a mix of different drumming and a band, frankly, with an even sharper ear for brevity than before. Virtuosity isn’t this band’s thing, thankfully, but this Saint Vitus lineup is a tighter musical machine than previous incarnations and their single-mindedness pays off particularly well here with one of the album’s most ferocious performances. The apocalyptic grinder “The Waste of Time” derives much of its musical strength from Vasquez’s monstrous swing. It inspires Chandler to, arguably, his most unhinged lead guitar yet. If anyone has questions about the band’s continued relevance as a recording act, this third and final song from Lillie: F-65 squashes any concerns. “White Stallions” explodes into life with no preamble and they roar into the song’s challenging tempo. Drummer Henry Vasquez is ideal for the track – the energy he brings to the songs finds its full range here, but while it’s far from basic, Vasquez plays with the band first and foremost while adding accents and subtleties where he can.

The one-two punch of “Dying Inside” and “Born Too Late” ends things predictability. The two songs are longtime closing staples of this lineup, but it isn’t any sort of hack work to get off the stage. Saint Vitus performs these monumental classics with the same passion fueling the initial recording of each song. If this ends up being the last official release with Wino on vocals, this chapter of the band’s recording history couldn’t be better concluded.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/saint-vitus-live-vol-2/feed/3Sonic Mass – You People Never Learnhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/sonic-mass-you-people-never-learn/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/sonic-mass-you-people-never-learn/#respondThu, 24 Nov 2016 11:04:29 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41033London’s soul cooking, noise-ridden psychedelic doom titans Sonic Mass were a complete and total happy accident for me on Bandcamp. I couldn’t even recall to you at this point in time what exactly I was trying to find instead but one start to finish listening of You People Never Learn made a believer out of me and I ended up buying both of the band’s limited edition full-lengths. I’ve heard The Sword tossed around a few times in describing these guys and I don’t even hear a fraction of it. These guys are plenty catchy in the riff department and full of blooming psychedelic patterns but the tones are dirty, the distortion maxed and the solos/leads are the stuff of nightmares. There’s an authentic and unique signature to the guitarwork, mirage on the move rhythms and howling vocals that makes this album and its predecessor All Creatures Strange must haves for fans of pounding, sludgy, research chemical doom.

“It Came from the Sun” crackles to life with the static of amps breaking up and harnessing signals from space, until the brief drone is strangled by the serpentine tail of Hendrix gone to hell style leads, mega-fuzzed blues riffs and bass tones that go as deep as the guitars. Dave’s drumming is combat-focused with vigorous speed fluxes and rapid fire fills peppered with pocket groove and vibrant cymbal splashes. Guitarist/vocalist Nick belts his vocals with a gritty, melodic singing style filtered through some buzzy distorted CB fuzz. Mostly this track is about the instrumentation and it’s in the red, on the verge of white hot; leads, solos and riffs played in the melted face mushroom murder key of Titan, Mammatus, Blue Cheer, Hendrix, early Electric Wizard, Sir Lord Baltimore, Ash Ra Tempel, Colour Haze and The Blood Farmers…of course Black Sabbath and St. Vitus could very well have something to do with these shenanigans as well since I’m hearing some straight-up Dave Chandler damage in the freak fuck guitar solos. The twin guitars never stop unravelling layers of the cosmos and manage to always come up with something meaningful rather than basic jam band status quo. And despite points of reference…Sonic Mass really got their own thing happening.

For example “Biker Satania” runs big fat doom tonalities and seeping wah licks over a barely contained blast of punk rock rage intent on frying up some SST goose (Black Flag and BL’AST). The solos still sonically destroy braincells with a progressive Fripp-hammer cross-pollinated with Hendrix and Chandler squalor. “Butcher of Brogdael” is an eye-popping, ass burning electric chair zapper with endless fill/roll battery pushing forth demonic harmonized riffs and quaking stoner/doom grooves. At 1:03 a walking bass line sways in and out of the guitar lines’ sudden, newfound smoothness and restraint which allows for some serious soulful vocal turns to take center stage. Then suddenly the trip gets violent as your hair turns to insects, your face splits from the inside out and black static crawls the walls in a soulstorm of manic percussive locomotion and wild solo/lead trades going from breakneck to bonged-out to screaming mad and finally settling into a groove that’s tough enough to unplug a giant’s bowel blockages.

“Butcher of Brogdael” is an easy album standout that sets the record up for the total modern doom classic “Tears of Galactus.” This is the peak of a trip on really stellar shrooms as the phasing, body part displacing, scenery tearing visuals are mimicked by a superb doom groove smothered in dripping, oscillating and very kraut-y Brainticket-esque solos and leads that are progressive without being wanky…rather a total atmospheric headfuck smear bomb. Madness is held deftly together by Ben’s vaporous bass suffocation and Dave’s straight doom beats whipping up into a runaway thrashing while always fleshing out and expanding what those psychotic guitarists Nick and Josh are up to. Topped off by the eerie, iconic lyrical simplicity of, “We came back for the living, till they are done giving,” sung in a time-warped caterwaul, this piece is nothing less than a skin squirming success. Garage-smashed and distortion plowed like Blue Cheer, Sir Lord Baltimore and the mouth-watering fuck all fuzz of Man’s Ruin Records, “Toga” is heavy on the nerve-breaking punk energy turned downward into hellbound grooves, lick duels and wind-whipped string abuse. The title track opens with an effective Geezer Butler low-end creep before turning into that one weekend I spent on LSA, ambien and valium…flashes of hallucinatory leads, solos, oak felling sludge riffs, rhythmic vortexes and some truly evil imagery stick in my craw though… Closer “Quadranoid” piles on piercing shuttle transmissions to an old school, unbathed psyche-rock dementia and bone-trampling doom with a knack for thrash gone Hendrix or somethin’ really fuckin’ crazy.

You People Never Learn as well as Sonic Mass’ mind-scalding debut All Creatures Strange are both well worth the time of hardened psyche-travelers who like their guitar work sizzling, the riffs unholy and the pacing full of chopped-up, temporal distortion. One listen made an instant fan and buyer outta me, so go see how this neuron nuked numbness suits you! Good fuckin’ stuff…

In 1990 Richard C, owner of Wild Rags Records, in California took a chance on Nuclear Death. A primitive grindcore outfit, out of Arizona, fronted by a female vocalist, who played guitar and bass. Extreme female vocalists doing grindcore, was not something that was going on during the 80’s/90’s. Not released on cd, I picked up the cassette at the local metal store, in NY, Slipped Disk Records. I kept on reading about them in all the zines and there was no previewing of the music, since there was no YouTube, social media and I had not met a tape trader who had Bride of Insect. The cassette featured an alternate album cover since the original could not fit on the cassette cover and then there was the music. Still to this day Bride of Insect is one of my favorite underground releases. The production was raw, however still understandable and brutal beyond belief. Chaotic, swarming, whirlwind, tornado like disgusting grindcore. Females can create a variety of sounds, which male singers cannot duplicate and her vocals, still to this day, are some of the most hateful, pissed off vocals ever. There is no greater example of this, than on album opener “Necrobestiality”. The way her lows will get into this hateful mid-range and then surprise you with some higher, raspier scream, almost operatic, how she holds out one of her screams on this track. It feels like she is berating you, as she spits forth some filthy, brutal and visual styled grotesque lyrics. You will feel violated after this listening experience.

Well Dark Symphonies has pressed this album in a 1000 limited reissue run, coupling the band’s earlier demos from the 80’s. One of the aspects I noticed is the music has been remastered. Destroys my cassette version which is warped, just like Lori’s vocals. The sound is louder, clearer and all around sounds much better. The original album cover adorns the cd, with a silverish background. This album cover, is explained perfectly in the liners. Always was one of the creepiest, depraved pieces of art to ever grace an album cover. It’s truly a warped depiction of the Christ Nativity scene. Liner notes, lyrics, photos, artwork and the alternate, cassette version album cover is all included. Bride of Insect is a monster classic that has finally been released in the definitive version, that you need. I wish I had a Bride of Insect shirt in my massive collection…oh well. Lori was a purveyor and creator of one of the most extreme forms of music, namely, Grindcore. Nuclear Death were just gaining steam at this point and then they released..Carrion for Worm.

CARRION FOR WORM

A mere 1 year later Nuclear Death released their second album, Carrion for Worm, in 1991. More gross, filthy, disturbing and disgusting artwork adorned this release. Of course I love the artwork. The band retained their grind, but their style began leaning more towards death metal, mainly due to Lori going for more gutturals. I swear her lows are lower, on this album, than most male death metal singers. Not sure how she got that low, but they are indeed impressive and while I never cited her as an influence in my singing career with Internal Bleeding or afterwards, I always admired her extreme viciousness and hate-inspired vocals that she vomited forth. With that being said, even to this day, I am not the biggest fan of Carrion for Worm. It mainly has little to do with the music. The music is brutal and Nuclear Death threw in some slower moments, that had a tad of Autopsy laden doom to it, and I feel these parts could have been explored more, but just as quickly as those sparse moments came, they were off blasting away again.

The songs do not breathe as much and while I loved the extreme lows Lori displayed on this record, she pretty much just does lows the entire album. Gone are the mid-range angry, berating, barking and the highs were pretty much gone. But for the life of me, it was the production. The bass drums were so goddamned loud that it’s all you can hear, is the kick drum. Vader would make the same mistake on their 2000 album, Litany, where it’s nothing but bass drums. With the Dark Symphonies 1000 limited cd pressing, I figured the sound would be corrected, but that’s not the case. The music is remastered and sounds louder and a little clearer, however it also makes what was irritating to me, back in 1991, continue to remain irritating to me, now in 2016. The kick drums are louder, more pronounced and makes this album a tough listen. A remixing of the drums would have helped out, leaps and bounds. However; there are still many parts of this album that are face ripping and the remaster, at least, has made Carrion for Worm sound better than my crappy warped cassette. The reissue contains more demos, artwork, pictures, lyrics and as reissues go, is perfect.

FOR OUR DEAD/ALL CREATURES GREAT AND EATEN

After Carrion for Worm, in 1991, I gave up on Nuclear Death, due to that album’s production and just continued to play the crap outta Bride of Insect. When I saw Dark Symphonies were putting out the Nuclear Death reissues and Dark Descent Records was assisting in the distro and had their first 2 albums and For Our Dead ep/All Creatures Great And Eaten, I picked up all 3 reissues. I had never heard the music on this release, which I deserve some swift kicks to the pants for giving up on Nuclear Death, back in the day. In 1992 Nuclear Death released both the For our Dead ep and All Creatures Great and Eaten full length. The sound, on both harkened back to their grindcore roots of Bride of Insect yore. Lori’s lows were still there, but she brought back the vicious, berating, hate-filled vocals and some of her higher registers on both releases and both these releases are even more vicious than on Bride of Insect. The production on both were the best Nuclear Death ever achieved and in doing so, nuances of screams, riffs, and rhythms were more audible, making the music even more brutal.

“The Corpse Tree” from the ep, has one of Nuclear Death’s best beats and the song just knocks the crap out of the listener. “Aunt Farm”, on All Creatures Great and Eaten is doom-laden, bringing those parts back, from Carrion for Worm, but staying with those moments longer, letting the tune breathe more and develop and then letting the blasting grind come in, a little later, makes this one of my favorite songs Nuclear Death ever did. Lyrics and the song name are pure creative genius. Lori’s vocals are outstanding, depraved and hideously beautiful and chaotic on this track. The reissue is again a remastered limited pressing of 1000 cds, containing lyrics, covers to both releases, liners, pictures and more of Lori’s disturbing, just plain effed up drawings. This third and final reissue, in my opinion, is Nuclear Death, at their peak. From my understanding Nuclear Death went on to change their style and go towards a rock/metal style. However; to this day Nuclear Death, Lori Bravo’s spawn, will be forever known for Bride of Insect, Carrion for Worm, All Creatures Great and Eaten and For our Dead. Truly an outstanding band which shaped the grind scene. Primitive, genius, disgusting, brutal, depraved, extreme, morbidly original- you name it, Nuclear Death are all these adjectives. No one, to this day, sounds like Nuclear Death. Pick up these 3 reissues, they are beautifully done and ultimately respectful to such a pioneering band!

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/nuclear-death-bride-of-insectcarrion-for-wormall-creatures-greateaten-and-for-our-dead-reissues/feed/0Krypts – Remnants of Expansionhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/krypts-remnants-of-expansion/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/krypts-remnants-of-expansion/#respondTue, 22 Nov 2016 11:01:44 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41016You know how they say your taste buds change every few years? Well I think the same is happening to my musical tastes. The debut from these Fins, Unending Degradation, made my 2013 year end list, but this year, this hulking, cavernous form of Dark Descent death metal just isn’t doing it for me. And by all accounts, Dark Descent is having yet another stellar year, as usually I’d be all over likes of Ruinous, Blood Incantation, Ghoulgotha, Vircolac and Phobocosm, but only the Intermentand Vanhelgd, has really stuck with me.

And that brings me to the new Krypts album. I waited a while to review this to see if this one caught me any different or if I’d have the same issue I had with both Phobocosm and Ghoulgotha; I loved their debuts, Deprived, and The Deathmass Cloak respectively, but this year’s follow ups, Bringer of Drought and To Starve the Cross barely registered with me, hence no reviews (you know what your mother said about saying something nice…).

Remnants of Expansion by KryptsBut I wanted to shake the funk, and see if DDR still had the magic, so I kept listening to Remnants of Expansion, to see if it clicked. And Unfortunately it still has not. Even doomier and drawn out than the debut (again, like Phobocosm), Remnants of Expansion has all the hallmarks of DDR release and the revived crumbling Finnish sound, but there is very little substance past the outer layer of the thick, churning, murky exterior.

11 minute opener “Arrow of Entropy” really puts the issues I’m having with the style into one song, where dread inducing and cavernous, crawling riffs ooze from the CD, but they never really go anywhere or the whole 11 minutes. There is no payoff or climax and it starts the album on a wandering note that’s hard to recover from. “The Withering Titan” tries, with a 7 minute rumble and churn, but while teasing with some nice riffs, Krypts shift before it sinks in never letting anything really hit home. Then we get the dreaded title track that’s just an atmospheric, shorter instrumental number- one of my pet peeves.

It’s not until “Entrailed to the Breaking Wheel” where I start to get a sense of “whoa- that’s more like it” from the album and that’s the second to last track. That said, the best is saved for last with closer “Transfixed”, though it still seems to end with unfinished business, which is a central theme for me for the entire album. I’m sure I am in the minority on this one, and this release will get heaps of praise at the end of the year, along with all the other 2016 DRR releases, but personally, I’m not feeling it, even though I’m enjoying some similar styled stuff by Ulcerate, Zhrine and such.

Sorry Dark Descent, it’s not you, it’s me….

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/krypts-remnants-of-expansion/feed/0Bölzer – Herohttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/featured/bolzer-hero/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/featured/bolzer-hero/#commentsMon, 21 Nov 2016 11:39:23 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41070Two months ago the Zurich, Switzerland duo Bölzer achieved somewhat of a Herculean task when they premiered the first advance track from their debut full-length “Hero”’. For a few weeks prior the storied halls of heavy metal social media had been in a tizzy over the first material to surface from Metallica’s imminent new album and levels of condemnation were running expectedly high towards Lars and co.

With the release of Bölzer’s first new song from “Hero”, the nine-minute plus ‘I Am III’, much of that vitriolic online commentary abruptly shifted away from the world’s most well-known metal band to an act formed as recently as 2008 with less than ten songs to their credit. Ah, the ceaseless wonders, and inevitable repercussions, of the hype machine. Social media is nothing if not a series of isolated bubbles and walled-off echo chambers to be fair, but the disgust leveled at Bölzer for the direction they were taking their music was eye-opening in its intensity, at least from my little corner of the globe. So, all that banal gossip aside, where does that leave us with “Hero”? Are seismic creative changes indeed underway or is the band merely progressing steadily along like they’ve done ever since day one?

To begin, a few things are immediately apparent. The production here is much bigger than any they’ve had before, wide open and vast with an immense drum sound. I’ve seen the band perform in small to mid-sized venues, areas where they absolutely excel, but “Hero” emanates from the speakers as if one was soaking it in from the middle of a huge concert hall. The band has also seen fit to really open up their songwriting this time around, a direction they previously hinted at with the somber heft of “C.M.E’ from “Aura” and to an even greater degree on ‘Labyrintian Graves’ from “Soma”. The songs here are given ample breathing room and the more compact, and dare I say traditional, songwriting common to black and death metal exhibited on their “Roman Acupuncture” demo is largely eschewed. Through their short career they have never showed any inclination towards stasis with each release displaying a noted and palpable change from the one that preceded it. “Hero” continues that trend, perhaps to a greater degree than before, and so there is plenty here that is new within the Bölzer universe.

The abundance of more measured, often slower, riffs that comprise the bulk of these songs brought to mind a particular album that I would not have readily associated with their earlier material, “Hymns” by Godflesh. There is an obvious comparison to be had when contrasting many of the individual riffs between the two albums, and the strong emphasis on heft and power, but perhaps a less expected comparison is that of Okoi’s vocals to Broadrick’s (or if you’re feeling extra anti-kvlt, Steve Brooks’ vocals in both Floor and Torche). There is no getting around it, as soon as the second track and first proper song ‘The Archer’ kicks in, you’ll be greeted by the man’s newfound gusto for deep, sonorous clean vocals. Deep and sonorous perhaps, but of a tone which I suspect will create an immediate decision point for many a listener. The contrast of clean vocals to music is not inappropriate, personally I think it works just fine, but it can be slightly jarring in a way not unlike what Blood Revolt were doing on their sole 2010 album “Indoctrination”. Simply enough, you’ll hear it and know immediately if it’s going to work for you or not and no amount of waxing poetic for or against in a review is going to change that. So we’ve got clean vocals that bring to mind both Torche and Godflesh? An ever-increasing distance from their earliest material coupled with slower and (rarely, but still unfortunately) more ponderous songwriting? All true statements and satisfactory explanations both for the wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth sure to accompany “Hero”.

Even as it arrives at the tail end of November, I would not be surprised to see it become one of the year’s most divisive albums. This will go down as one of those rare albums unlikely to inspire any feelings of indecision, every conversation I’ve had on it has swung strongly pro or con, while at the same time being difficult to recommend. That difficulty doesn’t stem from it being a poor album but rather the curious and occasionally esoteric composition choices. The unrelenting storm of hype that surrounds Bölzer at the moment ensures that nearly everyone reading this has at least a passing familiarity with the band and has formed at least a rudimentary opinion if the band tickles their fancy or not. If you’ve never cared for Bölzer before then I doubt there is anything on “Hero” that will change your mind. If you liked “Roman Acupuncture” and “Aura” but started to drift away on “Soma” then this is going to be a hard sell but if you’ve enjoyed them from conception right on through then disregard the hype and give this a listen. You might be very glad you did!

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/featured/bolzer-hero/feed/6Reticent, The – On the Eve of a Goodbyehttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/reticent-the-on-the-eve-of-a-goodbye/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/reticent-the-on-the-eve-of-a-goodbye/#commentsFri, 18 Nov 2016 11:11:14 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=40968

It’s all too easy to be sceptical about a one man progressive metal band with the audacity to release a fully fledged concept album, stretching across an exhausting 70 plus minute duration. However, being the open-minded individual that I generally am, the challenge of absorbing this monster opus thankfully oozes rewards for the painstaking emotional rollercoaster The Reticent mastermind Chris Hathcock drags the listener through. Yes, this isn’t typical prog concept territory; The Reticent’s whopping fourth LP is a harrowing ride detailing the days before, of and after the suicide of Hathcock’s close friend Eve. It’s heavy stuff and certainly one of the most emotionally raw and powerful albums I’ve listened to since the tragically sad, premature swansong, Woods V: Grey Skies and Electric Light by Woods of Ypres.

Right off the bat, On the Eve of a Goodbye sounds slick, muscular and musically proficient, masking the fact that it was almost entirely conceived by one very gifted person. Nimble and fluid prog metal is the order of the day, with winding melodic passages complimented by Hathcock’s prominent clean vocals, giving way to heavier bursts of Opethian prog-death, where Hathcock’s excellent growls and screams take hold. From its delicate and sombre beginning, to the emotive riff driven melodic metal at the song’s core, “The Girl Broken” is a dramatic, aggressive and musically dynamic tune that sets an early high standard, incorporating bruising heavy parts, strong riffs and a rousing climax. Hathock’s clean vocal style is fairly no-frills and might be a sticking point for some listeners, but his emotive vocals and thoughtfully woven melodies are very well executed.

Despite its challenging length, On the Eve of a Goodbye is exceptionally well arranged and sequenced, taking the listener on a rich journey of bleak discovery, where the multitude of hooks sink in far deeper due to the raw honesty and emotion dripping from the album’s pores. Even though the songs are complex and often lengthy, there’s an unpredictable yet catchy and cohesive flow, free of overly self indulgent fodder and grounded by the distinctive and memorable songwriting and an overall accessibility that belies the depressive themes and emotionally oppressive nature of the album. And while the album is bookended by a strong melodic focus, ample moments of speed and aggression mark tracks like ‘The Confrontation” and keep the album firmly rooted in the metallic side of the progressive equation. On the Eve of a Goodbye is a difficult listen, but there’s little in the way of weak moments or ill-conceived choices. The album remains consistently immersive and powerful, though its sheer length makes the depressing and emotionally exhausting ride hard to digest in one sitting. But given the time to properly delve into and investigate the intricacies of this artfully conceived creation, the rewards are bountiful and well worth the emotional grinder Hathcock puts you through.

On the Eve of a Goodbye’s latter stages ratchet up the intensity and emotion, driving the album towards its painful conclusion. This is particularly evident on “The Decision” as the sombre acoustic passage and intense clean singing eventually hurtles into a thought blocking white noise climax. However the most powerful and heartbreaking of all is the incredibly sad, bravely executed and gut-wrenching “Funeral for a Firefly.” The piano led semi-ballad features heartbreakingly sad yet beautiful melodies and gentle female backing vocals, however its Hathcock’s one take vocal delivery where he sounds overwhelmed with grief and anguish that leaves the most haunting and devastating impact. Eventually the song takes a fierce, stuttering detour into metal territory before closing down gently and segueing into another tense emotional journey on “The Day After.” Aside from the exhausting length and some patchy spoken word narrative interludes, On the Eve of a Goodbye remains consistently gripping and is a thoroughly rewarding though emotionally draining listen.

The production generally suits the material well, sounding crisp and organic, making it easy to pick out the subtleties and finer details. I would have liked the tones to be beefier sounding overall, but this is merely a personal preference and minor nitpick. The Reticent’sOn the Eve of a Goodbye took me by surprise and proceeded to floor me in all its heartbreaking, sophisticated glory. It’s a painful, flawed and often brilliant work of emotional art and a first rate progressive metal album in its own right.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/reticent-the-on-the-eve-of-a-goodbye/feed/1Green Bastard – Pyrehttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/green-bastard-pyre/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/green-bastard-pyre/#commentsThu, 17 Nov 2016 11:07:43 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=40966First review back after a three week long hand injury, so excuse me while I pull my tricycle from underneath a wreckage of doctor bills, a limper than a wet noodle wrist and a fuckin’ sling. Hand and foot injuries are a bitch but that’s nothin’ a good riff can’t cure and New Hampshire’s druggy, melodic sludge/doom/trip-out trio Green Bastard got plenty of mud puppy grooves and scorching THC loaded melodies that go heavy on the Vicodin all across their 5th EP release to date, Pyre…feelin’ better already! They call to mind the hardcore doom dirt fury of Sleep’sVolume I, Crowbar’s melodic n’ melancholy dirge poundings, the esotericism of The Melvins, a slight red carpet rollout of Maryland doom royalty, some bloody battlefield fodder culled from Cirith Ungol (mainly in the second track), the deadly sludge of Cavity/early Floor/Cough and the underrated balance between light, dark and psychedelic fury whipped up by godly Floridian muck slingers Snake Oil. The songs are winding labyrinths of dead end sludge riffs hellbent on sending a carload of crash test dummies into the nearest wall, extensive lead guitar work, throbbing rhythmic cave-ins and dual vocals that range from raw lung growls to tremoring clean singing which had me hooked like a fish on an opium worm! I’d say even fans of Godflesh, Dead Register, Rebreather, Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine could dig into this as well.

Opener “Thoros” goes on for some 19 minutes and a few extra shillings but never induced a single yawn even as I jammed the album past the 6 a.m. clock notch. They build and construct this jam deliberately; a downpicked dirty riff from guitar Mark, a funeral march tom heavy percussive hypnosis laid down by Ethan while bassist/vocalist Spencer provides you with a ball n’ chain ride straight to the bottom of the ocean. As the ascending power reaches a window cracking crescendo, the trio hogties you with a rope of tightly-knotted, mouth-watering, blood drooling riffs seeded to lush growth thanks to sprawling and soaring lead guitar fertilization backed by thick, soil-y doom rhythmic churns and Ethan’s brass knuckled, windpipe punctured gruff shouted vocals that rely on a lower, dirtier register. Control is key throughout each movement of this piece; every stringed instrument just kicking you a new chest hole with an iron-toed boot as the leads/solos reach for lofty heights against the turbulent fills and growling bass lines. Vocally, Ethan splits the difference between a Neurosisian roar, tuneful shouts and hearty, muscular singing, which throws some whiskey n’ gasoline on the band’s forest burning bonfire.

Green Bastard “Pyre” by Midnight Werewolf Records“Cyclopean Walls” throws down some fuckin’ sloth drowning, quicksand-caked, low-end dirt that sucks you in like a vortex Joe Preston’s work with The Melvins, Harvey Milk, High on Fire and Thrones. Sustained feedback pierces the eardrums with a rusty sewing needle before taut, constantly fluxing snare fills and black plague stricken riffs come to the forefront telling the town doctor to go fuck himself and stow his medicine bag full of slick tricks. Though the vocals are slightly buried they are fuckin’ strong throughout with ribcage rattling thickness and even some quaking, high-reaching falsetto/fall away cries (not of the power metal, wind in hair variety but more from a deeper Earthy standpoint). Sanity is a thin line drawn in the sand across this cut and soon the catchier elements turn to deviant sludge screams and increasingly desperate shouts where Spencer proves capable of holding his notes longer than most. Max’s riffs keep the structure economical but take all of the right dips and bluesy bends before kicking up a West Texas duster of mid-tempo thrashed grooves at the halfway point with the beats following on their heels as Ethan drives forward with a holy water bathed bass groove. Head-swimming lead licks gave me a consciousness change of mushrooms with a chaser of mescaline, leaving plenty of room for the power trio to snake back into wormholes of powerful melody and riffs transmitted from the bottom of a corpse-stuffed wishing well. …Major props to the Fall of Rome crumbling riffs that end this beast, while Nero fiddles gleefully with a sparse fire-charred solo that couldn’t make for a more fitting ending, though the gigantic riff that drags this motherfucker home don’t hurt either.

Closer “Green Dream” hazes in like a John Carpenter fog with a bassline reeking of Sabbath’s debut masterpiece. Twinkling Joy Division/My Bloody Valentine-esque chords craft beauty in the depression with Spence going after a cautiously haunting and catchy melody anthem while the drumming provides weathered soul strikes. Double-tracked guitar harmonies send this composition into a 80s goth/deathrock masterpiece with a metal soul that’s arteries are clogged with 10 tons bloody red t-bone and frying pain grease at the bottom of the barrel of these feral doom riffs. The vocals at times rise into emotive shouts with the guitars dripping gun in mouth sadness at every twisted turn. It’s the perfect closer; more than heartbreaking enough yet it never falls into wuss territory with enough weight present in the bashing, locomotive drums, molten guitars and beyond thick as fuck bass density providing a constant forward propulsion you’ll want to see through till the finale.

With a name like Green Bastard I was expecting Fu Manchu Vol. 1000 and while that’d been cool with me, Pyre gave me so much more than I bargained for. This is kick ass sludgy doom with a lot of melodic tricks and underpinnings keeping it interesting; well-worth the time for fans of the more offbeaten doom path.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/green-bastard-pyre/feed/3Despite – Synergihttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/despite-synergi/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/despite-synergi/#respondWed, 16 Nov 2016 11:04:13 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=40953Well hell, this one came out of nowhere. From the ever-popular djent style, to melodic death metal, to nu-metal, this one is all over the damn board. And you know what, it’s also one of the most unique, and fun, albums I have listened to in a while.

The first three tracks feature a djenty, thrash-tinged Killswitch Engage style, showcasing some nice down-tuned guitar heaviness mixed in with some harsh and clean vocals. Track five, “Time Lapse”, takes a total right turn into nu-metal (or what I call radio metal) style. It’s entirely clean vocals, and sounds like something All That Remains would do before they decided to completely turn into the wussiest band in metal history.

The remaining 8 tracks pull mainly from the above templates, and I must say it’s an enjoyable listen all around. The clean vocal parts, courtesy of Peter Tuthill, are a welcome change of pace. He never really dips into full on death growls, but the music on the whole doesn’t really call for it, preferring to go with the thrashy snarl vocal style most of the time. The band notes point out that they feature THREE eight-string guitarists, so that can definitely take credit for a lot of the heaviness that is present throughout most of the whole album. Janne Jaloman handles the drum duties, and pulls off some phenomenal stop-start action, a la the one and only Fear Factory, and some wicked fills and tempo changes; which come to think of it this album even has a touch of some industrial metal to it as well.

This is actually the band’s third LP, with an EP before this one which seems to have caused quite a buzz. After an output as strong as this one, they are definitely a band to keep an eye out for if you’re looking for something a bit different or you find your current metal choices getting a bit stale.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/despite-synergi/feed/0Furia – Księżyc milczy lutyhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/furia-ksiezyc-milczy-luty/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/furia-ksiezyc-milczy-luty/#commentsTue, 15 Nov 2016 11:59:07 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=40986I did not discover Poland’s Furia until 2015 when i got around to hearing Nocel after seeing it littered on a a few 2014 year end lists. So I really can’t talk about the bands past releases and development etc, past that album and this new one, an album that appears to be even more creative and experimental than Nocel, but still equally as challenging and brilliant.

While loosely under the black metal banner with a melancholic aura, Księżyc milczy luty (Moon Silent Severe), to me seems to be taking a little bit of influence from Tribulation’s last 2 releases, in that there is a patient, sultry evocative sway to the new material, matching the lunar themes. Then throw in a real off kilter, unhinged, almost bluesy vibe similar to Fleurety’sMid Tid Skal Komme, and you get envelop pusher. Don’t get me wrong, the crisp guitar tone and occasional expulsions of melodic blackened rage are still here, but on the whole the album is very restrained and controlled with a hazy, hypnotic, psychedelic, almost Moriconne-ish, hue.

The first two songs “Za ćmą, w dym” and “Cialo” alone really highlight the album’s more seductive, yet unhinged sound with purposeful, controlled swaying riffs and more spoken words, gruff shouts and chants than regular black metal vocals. It’s not until the third song “Tam jest tu” where we get anything that remotely resembles ‘true’ black metal, but lord is it a mesmerizing sound that lulls you into a haze, than shakes you awake with sudden bursts of more standard black metal.

As I said, “Tam jest tu” delivers the first riff that imbues real black metal\, but even that takes a while to appear after a few minutes of languid twang and tumble (remember how Fleurety’s “Fragmenter av en fortid” started?), but around 5:40 in, you get some swirling, atonal, shifty riffage. It’s short lived but worth it. “Grzej” picks up the mood with a militant march and shout, and along with the similarly structured, but more menacing “Zabieraj łapska”, are the album’s most direct, traditionally black metal aggressive tracks.

Księżyc milczy luty by FURIAThe the album closes with “Zwykłe czary wieją”, and folks we have one of my favorite track of the year. A sauntering, swaying bluesy 6 minute lope that climaxes with one of the year’s, catchiest, sexiest, rocking-est riffs that had me hit repeat over and over again, a rarity for me in this promo filled, listen to me know for review day and age. And like fellow Poles Mgla, they know they have a good one and run with it and make it stick till the song’s very end, making an already awesome album even better and showing a more avant garde Furia as a truly underrated entity in the international black metal scene.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/furia-ksiezyc-milczy-luty/feed/3Cognitive – Deformityhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/featured/cognitive-deformity/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/featured/cognitive-deformity/#commentsMon, 14 Nov 2016 11:55:02 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=41007It’s rare I get to have the pleasure of reviewing all the releases from an active band. Cognitive are one such band. I reviewed their ep, The Horrid Swarm and interviewed guitarist Rob Wharton several years ago. The band dropped their self-titled debut 2 years ago and I was pleasantly surprised to hear more technical death metal drippings, something they briefly dabbled with on their ep. Cognitive retained their brutal east coast edge with slams and a killer production at Full Force Studio, in NY. Enter in Deformity, Cognitive’s Unique Leader Records debut and it’s a continuation of their last album. 30 minutes of unabashed brutality.

Opening with the “Awaken the Miscreation” instrumental, complete with some movie snippets, this instrumental surprised me. It’s pretty damn intense. While it slowly drifts off, “Birthing the Deformity” comes blasting through and the Full Force Studio production is in your face. Jorel Hart’s vocals are ferocious on this recording. When he goes deep, they tend to sound a little muffled; however he is growling with a lot of pissed off aggression and after all that is how I best love my death metal. At the 1:49 part there is a nice rumbling heaviness before a cool guitar solo comes in, with some quick blasting, then back into the rumbling heaviness then back to the blast. Jorel begins his higher register screams, which are cool, not my favorite type of singing, but he has decent range on this album. Then the tune goes into a killer slam with some fantastic bass guitar slapping away from Ian.

Teeth of the Divine owner, Erik “The Hitman” Thomas happens to really like the song, “Dead Soil”, which at 4.18 is the longest track on this album. So I figured let me go and review the tune. The opening with the pinch harmonic squeals are killer. The rumbling heaviness to the mid-paced opening is killer and Jorel’s growl comes in at the perfect time. Some fantastic riffing, then erupting into a blast, then back to the rumbling mid-paced, then blast. The 2.15 moment with the dreamy guitar solo has a little Fallujah influence and this atmospheric part is well done. Then back to the brutal mid-pacing, equipped with pinch harmonics. Truly, the way this tune opens, Cognitive needs to make this their live opening track. People would be swinging all day in the pit. It really is a perfect live opening song. Hell, get me in there I’ll start swinging and picking up change at the same time and do a triple lindy somersault, and I’ll do it as I eat a meatball parmigiana sub, with extra cheese and I will not drop the sub! Oh can you imagine after this as an album opener, they go into “Beneath the Floorboards”?? Oh Heavens to Betsy, no one would be left standing. It would be beyond destructive!!

Cognitive, are still listed as technical death metal, but they still have not made the leap all the way. The majority of their music is brutal Tri-State Area slam death metal, with some technical sprinklings, here and there. The production is loud, powerful; however on some of the faster moments the guitars, while evident, the riffs kinda get jumbled together, tough to make some of the riffs out. When they are slamming and going for the mid-paced parts the riffs breathe through incredibly well, but not so much with some of the high intensity blasting. The booklet is multi-paneled, equipped with liners and lyrics. I love the album cover and Cognitive changed their band logo for this album. The new logo goes perfect with this cover. I love the use of light on this album, with the dark landscape. It’s like a warped Thomas Kinkade painting, from a horror movie.

Rob “The Slob” Wharton needs to be proud of his Cognitive offspring. He puts blood, sweat and tears into the DIY approach with promoting and I’m so very happy for Cognitive to be on Unique Leader Records, they fit perfectly on the roster. The label has multiple package deals, for every fan out there and go grab a longsleeve-ya bastards!! This is a strong album and there are some surprises on this album. A little black melody on “Merciless Forest”, really adds some depth to the band. Overall, despite some minor quibbles, Deformity from start to finish will make you level neighborhoods with atomic leg drops and abdominal stretches all day long. Buy or Rot in Hell!!

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/featured/cognitive-deformity/feed/1Finsterforst – #YOLOhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/finsterforst-yolo/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/finsterforst-yolo/#commentsFri, 11 Nov 2016 11:49:57 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=40871I have to hand it to Germany’s Finsterforst, purveyors of epic, rangy Bathory/Monnsorrow sounding viking/pagan metal. They have taken quite a gamble here with this EP and while it is hopefully a one off effort, it is certainly going to upset a lot of fans.

What we have here is a release of 4 new, original songs, 5 cover songs and an acoustic interlude. And its not just the fact that the covers songs are right the fuck out of left field, the original songs also seem to be the band really cutting loose and having some fun.

A departure from the band’s sprawling 20 minute epics, we get short, catchy songs in “Bottle Gods”, “Auf Die Zwolf”, “#yolo” and “Hangover” about drinking, partying and hangovers. And the inclusion of an almost mariachi sounding, banjo/trombone/saxophone section adds, another level of more upbeat outrageous-ness, more akin to Trollfest. “Auf Die Zwolf” is of note cause the fun little romp has a cool video which sees the band brawling in a pub with fellow pagan metallers Equilibrium.

For the album’s second half, we have covers of Micheal Jackson’s “Beat it”, “Wrecking Ball” from Miley Cyrus, and those two alone are sure to get some folks loin clothes in a bunch. But I’ll be damned if I caught myself singing along to the growled chorus of ‘Wrecking Ball”. And while the early stages of “Beat It” are no different than Alien Ant Farm‘s take many years ago, about 2 and a half minutes in, the aforementioned brass section kicks in rendering the track into a giant epic viking number akin to the band’s regular output. Then there is some more obscure covers of some German bands; “Der durch die Scheibeboxxxer” from a German hip hop band and the catchy “Das Schlimmste ist, wenn das Bier alle ist”, from punk rockers, Die Kassierer, which when combined with the brass, sounds a little like The Mighty Mighty Boss Tones.

The release ends with a cover of the traditional and oft covered drinking anthem “The Wild Rover”, arguably the ultimate sing along song, and Finsterforst nail it, though it would be hard to mess this song up.

Certainly a brave release that will rile up some fans, but it’s clear this is a one off effort the band wanted to do, had fun doing and now they can focus on their more typical brand of epic viking metal for the next release, now this is off their chest. Right guys?

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/finsterforst-yolo/feed/1Crator – The Ones Who Create : The Ones Who Destroyhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/crator-the-ones-who-create-the-ones-who-destroy/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/crator-the-ones-who-create-the-ones-who-destroy/#commentsTue, 08 Nov 2016 11:08:44 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=40855The word super group gets thrown around a lot, but in the case of Crator, it’s pretty fitting as Crator features Colin Marston (Gorguts, Withered, Krallice Etc) on bass, Jason Keyser (Skinless, Origin) on vocals and Jon Longstreth (Origin and everyone else) on drums. The only member who I didn’t instantly recognize is guitarist Jeff Liefer, who has been in a handful of bands I have not heard of (Tentacles, Foaming at the Mouth), but carries his weight admirably here.

The result of this unholy death metal communion is as you’d expect; a mix of a little of everything the main guys are known for. At its heart , it’s a brutal tech death record, but with some blackened atonal flourishes and a more gritty, earthy and authoritative delivery than the cleaner, more clinical ‘true’ tech death bands like Origin (though there is still a heavy Origin influence as heard on “The Judge on War”). It’s more Skinless meets Gorguts and Krallice.

The Ones Who Create : The Ones Who Destroy by CRATORMarston’s fingers are literally all over the material with lots of twangly off kilter, discordant bass work pulsing under the crumbling, shifting guitar work, which almost takes a backseat to the rhythm section in the murky but commanding mix. The 39 minute, 9 song behemoth isn’t a quick fix, it’s a swarming, caustic, bristling album that teems with angular, almost alien, disjointed menace, but is rendered with top notch tech death musicianship.

Standouts include the aforementioned “The Judge on War”, the title track, which has a nice slower lurch to start then a chaotic, shambling discordance to finish and the cosmic, atonal shimmer and shudder of the Gorguts ish “The Noble Lie”. There’s even a more pure black metal outburst towards the end of the album in “The Echo That Conquers Voice”. But none of these are tracks you are going to be humming or air guitaring to, except maybe the solo in “The Sixth Genocide”.

Considering who is involved in this project and the quality of the overall presentation (comes in a gorgeous, embossed digipack), it’s mind boggling this is a self released/independent release, and that someone like Relapse or Comatose didn’t release it. Much like Devourer of Worlds from Milwaukee’s Ara a couple of years ago and the recent Construct of Lethe EP, is a must have independent release of churning, discordant, brilliant technical bliss, from guys you’d expect no less from.

I can remember cruising through my local record store some 20 years ago as a young teenager and blindly purchasing TestamentsSouls of Black solely on the cover art. It was a rewarding purchase to say the least, and so began my admiration for one of heavy metals finest acts. What I now have come to fully appreciate and respect about this band is just how prolific and steadfast they have been over the course of their 30 years existence. Current Testament annihilates most of their peers. Hell, the past two decades of Testament annihilates most of “The Big Fours” output, and Brotherhood of the Snake is a vicious demonstration of how unstoppable they are.

Not since The Gathering have I been so excited about this band. They’ve released enough quality material since then sure, but nothing has seized my attention quite like this. Brotherhood of the Snake is a mix of The Gatherings heaviness coupled with classic Practice What You Preach thrash. That’s a winning combo in my book and the title track portrays this right from the start. The opening riff is so menacing, then Chuck Billy comes in with one of his mighty roars, there is just no denying the sheer prowess of this band.

Brotherhood of the Snake holds some of Testaments fastest material in a long time and may hold some of the fastest material in their catalogue. Over half of the tracks are full speed ahead. “Brotherhood of the Snake,” “Stronghold,” “Centuries of Suffering,” “Black Jack,” “Canna Business,” and ending the album on “The Number Game,” there is really no down time on this record, and it’s 45 minute playing time wizzes by. All ten tracks have a life of their own with great songwriting and hooks. They stick in your head and have you repeating the words. This could be an instant classic. “Seven Seals” is a favorite of mine, telling the story of end times inspired by the book of Revelations, and I’ll put my money down now saying this is one of the best songs the band has ever written. It’s a truly epic piece, with guitar wizardry throughout, and commanding vocal lines that compel you to raise your fist to the sky.

Again, utilizing the thunderous power of Gene Hoglan (The Atomic Clock) we can hear blast beats being used generously and he is a key component in making the unit sound so tight. Peterson and Skolnicks shredding on this record is just masterful and would make any axe-wielder wet their pants in excitement. Personally, it’s been years since an album has compelled me to pick up my guitar and learn the riffs like when I was a teenager. To me that alone makes this a killer album.

Chucks inspiration for the album title came from the story of a secret society started to protect humanity from the oppressions of religion. The extraterrestrial origin of said society is an in depth story and an interesting read that can be had with a simple google search. Though not a concept album, elements of the narrative are sprinkled throughout the record as well as other biblical and political themes.

Eric Peterson had full writing duties on this record and from interviews I heard, none of the band had heard any of the material before entering the studio. Chuck Billy has been very vocal about his disdain for the making of this album and how it wasn’t enjoyable for them. Fortunately for us, the end result of their studio suffering is a blistering thrash record that cements them, yet again, as an underrated gem in the metal world. It’s records like this that make you venture back into the bands career and revisit albums that you may not have heard in years. It is records like this that make you want to play your guitar. It is records like this that make you clinch your fist, throw up the horns, and be proud to be a metal head.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/featured/testament-brotherhood-of-the-snake/feed/4Stangala – Klañvhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/stangala-klanv/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/stangala-klanv/#commentsFri, 04 Nov 2016 11:09:17 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=40249Amid all the black and death metal I get sent to review, occasionally I get some more off the wall stuff that gets my attention (i.e Duobetic Homunkulus). Here is one such release from France’s Stangala, and its not just off the wall, it’s out of the house and running naked in the yard.

I really don’t know where to start with describing this, so I’ll use the Metal Archives description: “Doom/Stoner Metal with Celtic folk elements”. Yeah, that’s somewhat accurate, but add Jazz, (there is heavy Saxophone use), death metal, black metal and everything else to the pot and let it stew. The only thing I can think of that’s remotely close is if Pan-Thy-Monium played tripped out, fuzzed out, 70s stoner rock and one of the members was a die hard Eluveitie Celtic/folk metal dude who threatened to quit the band if his stuff wasn’t used. But it all somehow comes together to work.

The Celtic elements collide with with the sax and the fuzzy guitars to create something wholly unique and something I have not heard before, something I rarely say after 16 years of reviewing. Opener “Bigoudened an Diaoul : Orinoù” might give you some idea what to expect: It starts with a pure 70s porno groove, then a Celtic/folk gallop turns into a secy, smooth sax laced freestyle party, and it all ends with a black metal blast complete with distant howls. I’m scratching my head and tapping my feet at the same. And that’s one song folks.

Klañv by StangalaThe album’s descent into sheer insanity continues for the next 40 minutes. There’s the more pure moody tribal doom of “Hent Loar” with more black metal vocals. The you get the more uptemo, grooving “Lutuned an noz”, which really gave me a Pan-Thy-Monium and even Xysma vibe. Finally there is a sort of straight forward track in the title track, a largely instrumental folk/Celtic gallop laced with bagpipes. “N’eus ket dremmwel hiviz” is a sort of mid album respite with an Opeth-ian clean, proggy acoustic hue. “Jan” gets my foot tapping again with a nice little hazy/70s/stoner groove, made even cooler by the Sax/pipes.

Things get laid back again for “Marv int ar martoloded”, a bluesy, fuzzed out, lounge-y rocker, but I have to admit, by now my attention is wandering, even with the intriguing mix of styles, and almost 9 minute closer “An Ankoù hag ar vor” is a sprawling, moody, largely instrumental, doom jaunt, I’m craving something more straight up metal. But if you are in the mood for something truly different and most certainly off the metal beaten path, Klañv is a neat little curiosity that is a welcome break from the brutality.

]]>http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/stangala-klanv/feed/2Zaum – Eidolonhttp://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/zaum-eidolon/
http://www.teethofthedivine.com/reviews/zaum-eidolon/#respondThu, 03 Nov 2016 11:55:29 +0000http://www.teethofthedivine.com/?p=40620Eidolon is the third overall release from New Brunswick doom bruisers Zaum and it’s certainly something different. I must sadly declare ignorance of the debut full-length Oracles and the split with Shooting Guns, so I come into this review with negative brain cells in terms of their past work. Opting for the increasingly popular duo configuration (though there’s a shitload of guest players) the music on Eidolon took me by complete surprise. Hell, even the basic instrumental setup of the main band is hardly traditional; Kyle Alexander McDonald handles bass, sitars, synths and vocals while Christopher Lewis solely mans the drums. If OM is Eastern then Zaum is Far East. Mix the progressive combination of royal riffs, keyboard hymnals and crushing gothic gloom of Morgion from Among MajesticRuin onward to Solinari with the plunging bass-y riff damage and Holy Mountain Sinai folktale oddities of OM, add some of the epic sweep and dirty esoteric doom cast down by Asunder and Samothrace then finally allow the results to drown beneath the nautical undertow stirred up in Ahab’s wake… Fans of Skepticism, Esoteric, Cathedral (Forest of Equilibrium period) and even Neurosis should probably sign their souls in the register as well.

This type of funeral parlor doom can go one of two ways; either it’s more insufferable than the first breaking of the bowels after 6 weeks of constipation or it really gets under your skin like the aforementioned bands did mine. Thankfully, Eidolon’s two 20 minute whoppers are consistently engaging with zero time wasted on tedium. Oh yeah…I should probably mention that even though I dropped some points of reference for guidance, these guys are very much on their own program.

“Influence of the Magi” is the soundtrack to ancient Rome collapsing and subsequently falling through the Earth to land atop Atlantis, thusly making that watery fucker sink too. I mean, Christ, the song builds up with two types of flutes (bass and concert both played by Ricky Frenette), creepy throat singing, world ending synth drones, singing saws, smoldering low-end embers, cello…I mean, fuckin’ everything! I feel like I’m on mescaline in the middle of the Great Plains waiting for an impending herd of buffalo to run me down. Impatient listeners will be killed off long before the song truly even starts, but the sheer depth and haunting foreshadow of the pitch black atmospherics had me curious to see what was going to happen next. The fuzz-blasted bass lines are sturdy, picking up a nice head of steam n’ smoke as well as adopting some driving patterns to boot…in some instances they will forcefully lurch and dip like OM’s most rock-heavy stuff and during other moments McDonald rains down hopeless ethereal sludge from the heavens that’s beaten into place by Kraken killing beats. Texture is important here as the keys often double the bass lines as well as simultaneously shading in everything around them. Vocally, the leads are echoing, mirror-reflected musings strangled, choked and smothered with enough depression to lay your back flat on the therapist’s couch. Kyle’s singing is melodic enough to keep you hooked without getting too wind in the hair, so the smell of Swiss stays firmly in your lunchmeat drawer and doesn’t seep into your stereo speakers. Eventually ill-tempered, bellowing vocals provided by none other than Mattias Nööjd (he of underrated Swedish thrash/sludge titans Galvano…they’re worth a look, trust me!) lends a scathing curmudgeon to the ever-increasing dread. It’s a nice touch that gives the song an Enemy of the Sun eclipse before fading off into glistening negative space.

Second and final track “The Enlightenment” brings to mind an old Kung Fu, chopsockey movie’s one scene of downtime where we are often taken to see a temple in a gorgeous clearing. Frenette again offers his flute skills on loan, bringing the Xian flute to the table during the lengthy intro. The beauty fades away thanks to Lewis’ pulverizing, stick cracking drum devastation; locked in a death rattle battle with murderous yet melody intensive bass plods and church organ preachings. Tranquil sections appear when the heaviness dissipates, though when said heaviness returns its impact is felt tenfold. Alexander’s voice quivers in waves of breathy softness and gruffer, angrier tangents for a varied approach that fits the music like a fatal bowtie. Trippy OM/Sleep blues tough enough to buckle the Green Giant at the knees phases in at the 10:30 mark and totally hits my sweet spot. What gives it a totally unique vibe is the general sounds and emanations of the instruments…filter the two bands I just namedropped through Morgion’s thudding heft/soaring keys and you’ll be close but might not be smoking a cigar…though the next round of singing is so much like Cisneros it hurts (in a good way). Later on Kyle provides some piston-pressed, pissed-off vocals of his own to compliment the shifting of the musical backdrop into a festering, abyssal depth-charge equal parts an ocean of aural vastness as well as a straight-forward tribute to the formative 70s/early 90s Devil’s riff worship.

Zaum leaves nothing to chance on Eidolon and meshes all of their disparate elements together seamlessly. It’s no easy feat to reach for such lofty doom ambitions whilst avoiding a tumble into a vat of cheese. These guys can blacken the stars they’re shooting for with an expert marksman’s aim and the two tunes here offer plenty to come back to…and never once did I get bored across their sprawling trajectories. I’ll be sure to give Oracles a listen thanks to the strength of the material on Eidolon…something tells me I missed out on some damn good music.